Because I Love You
by NaijaStrawberrie
Summary: “It’s so sweet because when you see him look at her it seems as if he’ll never stop feeling the way he does about her...” XIETRO OneShot


Disclaimer: I don't own bath and body works, moonlight path or anything there of.

**Because I love you**

Lexa opened her eyes. She yawned and turned, looking at the other occupant of the bed, her husband Pietro. Married for over a year, Lexa couldn't be happier. She had her own clothing line, a wonderful husband… a wonderful _rich_ husband that could afford to pay for hired help so that she wouldn't have to do the cooking. Life was good.

Lexa glanced at the clock on the bedside table beside her. It was black with blaring green letters. Rogue had given it to the couple as part of their wedding gift. It was Rogue's way of having something say, "STOP HAVIN' SEX ALREADY!" for her.

Lexa smiled, _"We stopped about an hour ago,"_ she thought, seeing as the clock said 7:35.

She looked once more at Pietro. His piercing blue gaze, which softened upon looking at her, was hidden by his eyelids. His beautiful silver-blond hair was all over the place due to the previous night's activities.

"How cute," Lexa thought as she thought almost every morning of their marriage. She leaned over and gave him a quick kiss on the cheek and scooted over to get out of bed.

As quick as lightening, two arms shot out and grabbed Lexa by the waist.

"No," Pietro said in a no-nonsense voice, pulling Lexa closer to him.

"Pietro, baby, I have to go to work," Lexa said.

"It's my day off," Pietro complained. "I was hoping to spend it with you."

Lexa sighed. "I thought we talked about this yesterday," she said.

"I thought you were playing a mean joke so that we could have sex earlier and therefore for a longer time," Pietro teased.

Lexa glared at him and smacked him playfully. "No, that's you," she said.

Pietro pouted, trying to weaken Lexa's resolve. "Can you _please_ take today off?" he asked.

Lexa smiled and gently got out of his grasp. "No," she said. "I took last week off, I have a ton of work to do."

She walked over to the bathroom, set the shower temperature to exactly as she wanted it and climbed into the shower. She washed herself with her favorite Bath and Body Works body wash, Moonlight Path, and toweled herself dry. After washing her face, brushing her teeth and blow drying her hair she put on her robe, got out of the bathroom and walked into the walk-in closet she and Pietro shared.

"Here," Pietro said, handing Lexa her underwear, her bra and the Moonlight path body lotion. As Lexa put those things on Pietro looked for an outfit for her. Seeing that she had finished, Pietro handed Lexa her deodorant and his favorite suit of hers, with a lacy silver camisole. The suit was a skirt suit, the skirt stopping just before her knees.

Lexa quickly dressed and put her hair up into a clip in the back of her head. After looking at herself she turned to look at Pietro. She quickly turned in a full circle to see if he approved.

Pietro looked her up and down. "You're not wearing earrings?" he asked.

Lexa's eyes widened and her hands went up to her earlobes. She ran to the dresser and took her tiny silver hoops out.

Pietro nodded his satisfaction once she put the earrings on and Lexa ran into his open arms.

"I'll be back before you know it," she said.

Pietro nuzzled her neck. "What am I going to do all day without you?" he asked.

Lexa smirked evilly. "Learn to knit?" she asked.

Pietro lifted his head and glared at her. Lexa laughed and lightly kissed him.

Just as she was about to pull away he pulled her closer and deepened the kiss. After a few minutes he pulled away.

"Go to work Lex," he said, pushing her away slightly. "And grab some breakfast on your way out."

Lexa made a face. "Do I have to?" she asked.

Pietro rose an eyebrow. "Why do you hate breakfast so much?" he asked.

"It's stupid and a waste of time," Lexa replied.

Pietro sighed. "Grab an apple at least?" he asked her.

Lexa nodded her agreement and Pietro let go of her. She left the house, pausing to grab the apple she promised Pietro she'd eat.

As Lexa drove she started to think about Rogue, Wanda and Kitty.

Rogue was currently happily married and taking care of Lexa's cute 5-year-old godsons, Trevor and Alex, when not working. Remy, her husband had finally stopped wanting to be attached to the hip with Rogue and was actually going on business vacations that would take him away from the family for some time.

"_It's so sweet because when you see him look at her it seems as if he'll never stop feeling the way he does about her,"_ Lexa thought. _"Even when she was cursing up a storm during her labor."_

Lexa smiled as she thought about the rapidly growing Kitty.

"I wonder how Kitty will be?" she thought. "Will she curse up a storm or just squeeze Piotr's hand, not concentrating on anything other than pushing?" Her smile turned pensive as she thought of the "sweet" couple in their group. Rogue and Remy were the "sexy" couple, she and Pietro were the "kinky" couple and Wanda and John were the "crazy" couple.

Wanda and John, the only ones out of the eight of them were the only ones not married. They were currently taking some time off of work to backpack through Spain together. Lexa couldn't imagine how they were doing since the only spanish either of them knew before they left was, "Hola," "Baño," "Gracias," "Adios" and what was in the Spanish/English dictionary they were carrying. They seemed to be having fun despite the language barrier, according to the post card they had sent three weeks ago.

Lexa pulled into her private parking space and entered, _X fashions_. She greeted the assistant at the desk and went straight to the 10th floor where her office was located. She walked into her spacious office and immediately the phone rang.

"Hello?" Lexa said into the receiver.

"Call for you on line 3," her secretary, Amanda said.

"Thanks Amanda," Lexa said. She pressed the button for Line 3.

"_X Fashions_, how may I help you?" she asked.

"By coming home," Pietro replied.

Lexa smiled and leaned back into her seat. "Hey hun, how are you?" she asked.

"I'm fine," he said. "I just finished mowing the lawn."

Lexa gasped. "No fair!" she protested. "You're only allowed to mow the lawn when I'm home!" Lexa envisioned him shirtless and sweaty, just as he always looked mowing the lawn. Lexa never got enough of the sight and ordered him to only mow the lawn when she was around to watch.

"Hey," said Pietro. "_You're_ the one that wanted to go to work today."

Lexa smiled. "Did you _really_ mow the lawn?" she asked.

"Yes I did," Pietro replied smugly. "And next time I tell you to stay home you better listen to me."

"Yes sir, Pietro, sir," said Lexa. She surveyed her desk and the extra table on the side, marveling at the amount of papers and portfolios.

"I have to go hun," she said. "I have to approve of designs for our upcoming fall collection, and I have to look through the designs Amara found in Italy for me, to see if anything there can be used for my new line."

"What are you calling the new line?" Pietro asked.

"C.S.K.S." Lexa answered. "Crazy. Sexy. Kinky. Sweet."

"I'm glad you went with my idea," Pietro said.

"It was a good one," Lexa replied. She grinned. "One of the few you've ever had."

"Touché dear, I'll remember that," Pietro said. "Go back to work Lex. Come home soon. I love you."

"I love you too," Lexa said and hung up the phone.

Before starting on the papers on her desk Lexa turned on her computer to check her email. While it was booting up she surveyed the pictures around it with a smile. One of them was her and Pietro's wedding picture, which was next to a picture of Rogue with Kitty, Wanda and Lexa as her bridesmaids. Another was a picture of Kitty and her bridesmaids followed by a picture of Logan walking Lexa to the altar. Underneath those was a group picture of the three couples at the beach two summers ago, and a picture of Alex and Trevor on their fourth birthday party.

Lexa checked the computer and saw it had loaded. She checked her email, responding to the ones that needed a response and deleting the junk mail. She smiled at the "I love you" e-card that Pietro sent her and sent him some digital kisses.

Finally Lexa turned and lost herself in the pile of papers on her desk.

Five hours later, Lexa was about a fourth of the way done when she heard a knock on her door. She told the person to enter and Pietro stuck his head in the room and grinned at her.

Lexa smiled. "Can't stay away from me can ya hun?" she asked as she got up to give him a hug.

"Have you had lunch?" Pietro asked her, his blue eyes full of concern.

Lexa glanced at the clock showing 2:17 and gasped.

"I didn't realize it was so late," she said.

"Amanda called me and told me you've been in here working for five hours straight and haven't gone on your lunch break," he said. He lifted up his bags. "So I brought lunch."

"Aww, thanks," Lexa said. She looked into one of the bags and shrieked happily.

"CHEESECAKE!" she exclaimed, jumping on Pietro and showering him with kisses.

Pietro almost lost his balance but managed to hold onto both the bags and Lexa.

Lexa got off him, ran to her phone and quickly dialed Amanda's extension.

"Thanks Amanda!" she said. "I'll save you some cheesecake!"

"Your welcome," Amanda said laughing. She hung up.

"Let's go in the conference room," Lexa said. Pietro followed her to the room and put his bags holding ravioli and cheesecake at the head of the table. He then sat down in the chair and pulled Lexa into his lap.

"Now Miss Hard-Working-Entrepreneur," said Pietro. "You are going to sit here and do nothing while I feed you."

Lexa smiled seductively. "Nothing?" she asked while fingering with the buttons on her shirt. Pietro noticed and his body stood at attention in response, but nevertheless he pushed her hands down.

"The only thing you can do is offer me gratitude," Pietro said.

"But I was going to-" Lexa started, but was silenced by a look from Pietro.

"This is gratitude," he said. He leaned in and slowly kissed her. "What you were about to do is called playing."

Lexa pouted and Pietro laughed, opening up the ravioli and putting some on a fork to feed to her.

"Open wide," he said. Lexa obligated and he put the food in her mouth. She chewed on it and smiled to show him she liked it.

For the next hour and a half the two ate. Lexa showed him her gratitude and they even _played_ a little bit on the conference table.

"I'm gonna have to clean this table," Lexa said after they had finished. Lexa was once again sitting in Pietro's lap at the head of the table. "Otherwise it'll be kind of awkward to have meetings in here."

"Yeah," Pietro agreed, his eyes and voice distant.

"Pietro?" Lexa asked him. "What's wrong?" Pietro continued to stare off into the distance as if he didn't hear her.

"Pietro, talk to me," Lexa said, shaking him slightly. "You're scaring me."

Pietro turned to look at her, his eyes solemn.

"Lexa," he began. "If anything happens to me, If I…die…I have about a million dollars in a bank account saved up for you…and any baby you might have."

Lexa looked up at him in horror. "Pietro don't say that," she said. "We have our whole lives together. You're not gonna die." She clung to him and started sobbing. Pietro held onto her, murmuring incoherent consoling phrases until she calmed down.

"I have to get back to work," Lexa mumbled as she lifted her head.

"Okay," Pietro said. Lexa stood up and he got up after her. The two of them cleared the table of their food items (and evidence of their fun) and walked back to Lexa's office hand in hand.

Pietro stood by the door leading out of Lexa's office about to leave when he took Lexa's hands in his.

"Lexa there's one thing I have to tell you," he said. "If I die-"

"Pietro you're _not_ going to die!" Lexa snapped. "Stop saying this!" She pulled her hands from his grasp and covered her ears.

"Lexa _please_," Pietro said, pulling her hands from her ears. "You need to hear this and I _need_ to tell you!"

Lexa looked up at him, ready to burst into tears again and nodded for him to continue.

"If I die, I want you to remarry," Pietro said.

"What?!" Lexa exclaimed. "Pietro, no. No way."

"Lexa!" Pietro said exasperatedly. "I don't want you holding yourself back from the joys of life because of me! You're too young, you can't live the rest of your life alone. Especially if you have a kid -my kid- to raise."

Pietro looked her dead in the eye and kissed her softly.

"I love you," he said. "And I want you to be happy. Will you please just do this for me?

Lexa sighed heavily and nodded.

Pietro smiled softly, kissed her again and hugged her tightly.

"I love you," he repeated. "I always will."

"I love you too Pietro," Lexa replied. She cracked a weak smile. "I married ya didn't I?"

Pietro smiled softly, caressed her cheek with the back of his fingers and turned to leave.

Lexa walked back to her desk, trying to shake the terror Pietro had placed on her. She started looking at the jewelry designs for C.S.K.S when her heart suddenly stopped. After two seconds it resumed beating and Lexa's head shot straight up in shock and horror.

"No," she whispered. "It's not true, I'm being paranoid." She looked back down at the necklace design she was looking at previously and after three minutes got up to pace.

"There is no way," she said. "It's not possible."

She ran over to her desk to call Pietro's cell. She knew that once she heard his voice her fears would be alleviated.

As soon as her hand touched the phone it rang, startling her.

"Pietro?" she screamed into the phone as she picked it up.

The person on the other end paused. "Miss Howlett you need to come to the front of the building right now," the assistant that sat at the desk on the first floor said.

"Oh my God," Lexa said. She dropped the phone and raced to the elevator, pressing the down button furiously. After three seconds the elevator stopped it's ascent on the 5th floor and Lexa ran to the stairs.

She ran down frantically, with her hair flying behind her. On her way down she pushed anyone who got in her way to the side not bothering to say, "Sorry."

Once she reached the first floor she yanked the door open and looked into the eyes of the person standing in front of her. It was Logan, her father.

He was looking at her with eyes full of sorrow. His facial expression showed his wish to protect his daughter from the harshness of life.

"I'm sorry," he said.

"No!" Lexa screamed. She ran past him, out the door to the street in front of the building.

Time seemed to slow as she took those last ten steps towards the street. Her heart beat with every step.

Step. Boom. Step. Boom. Step. Boom. Step. Boom. Step. Boom. Step. Boom. Step. Boom. Step. Boom. Step. Boom. Step…

Lexa's heart stopped again as she laid eyes on Pietro. He was lying as still as a stone in the middle of the crosswalk in the street. Blood was trickling down to the pavement from his head.

"PIETRO!" Lexa screamed as she collapsed beside him. She grabbed him by the shoulders and shook him, oblivious to the people around her. "PIETRO!"

Logan pulled her off Pietro and held her as she tried to rush back to his side to rouse him.

"He's gone, Lexa," he said, his voice thick with emotion. He pulled Lexa close. "I'm so sorry darlin'."

Lexa turned, wrapped her arms around his waist and sobbed.

Two months later… 

Lexa surveyed the small white stick in her hands. She was in her hotel bathroom in Japan. After Pietro's funeral she took the first flight to Japan to get away from everything and everybody, to try to cope.

Any work needed to be done for, _X Fashions_, she dealt with via email. She hadn't gone back to her office since that fateful day.

She wasn't going to go back. Not for at least a year. She didn't know what she'd do, but she knew she wasn't going back to America soon for anything other than the trial.

In four days she would have to catch a plane and for the first time come face to face with the person that killed her husband in a drunken stupor. She hadn't wanted to go to the trial, but Logan had convinced her to go, telling her that if she did she would get a little peace.

Lexa looked at the stick again.

"_Killed on the spot,"_ she thought. _"At least he had the opportunity to do this, to give me something of his to hold on to."_

A tear fell from her eye, dropping silently to the floor towel beneath her feet.

Lexa looked up at the ceiling.

"I want you to know that I'm only going to do it because you asked me to," she said. "It's going to be hard. I'm never going to love another man like I loved you. But for your sake, and your child's sake, I'll try."

Tears fell one after another down her face like sweat used to fall down Pietro's body when she was cutting grass.

"I love you Pietro," she whispered.

* * *

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